Face-Off with Susanne Dietze!!

According to Susanne Dietze, she began writing love stories in high school, casting her friends in the starring roles. Today, she’s the award-winning author of over half-dozen new and upcoming historical romances. A pastor’s wife and mom of two, she loves fancy-schmancy tea parties, travel, and curling up on the couch with a costume drama and a plate of nachos.

She has co-written multiple historical fiction books with some of the best Christian authors out there.

One of my favorite things about this fabulous lady is her love for all things Regency! That’s something we have in common ❤

You can check out some of her great Austen retellings here! They are such a good price!! Keep an eye out for my review of her book, Austen in Austin.

If you want to learn some fun Regency cant, check out her article! You might be buffle headed, or think she is dicked in the nob, but this is NOT a faradiddle! I daresay, you shall enjoy it! 😉

Shall we?

The rules are simple:

I ask Susanne some random questions. She replies and then I give my answers. Each winning answer is worth one point and I get to decide whose answer is better.

It’s my blog.

Here we go!

1. Have you ever had a tire blow out or something crazy like that happen while driving?

Susanne – Plenty of scary things, but the wackiest was one holiday weekend when I drove home from college. I had two passengers and had just dropped one off when I got back on the freeway, hit my turn signal switch to change lanes, and the switch literally broke off. It’s not like I’m the Hulk or anything–it just broke! The headlight controls on my ’85 Accord were on the turn signal switch, too, so when the switch detached from the steering wheel column, the headlights went out. It was night. In Los Angeles. I was hours from home and maybe 20 years old. I am so glad I wasn’t alone! The girl I was with helped me use a pencil to get the headlights back on, and we made it home safely, but of course the next day I learned I couldn’t just fix the switch. I had to replace the entire steering wheel column. The whole thing was nuts.

Charity – 😯 Now, that is what I call a debacle! What in the world. haha. I love that you needed to clarify that you aren’t the Hulk. ha!

I was driving along back in the early 90’s when all of the sudden, my car started making a horrific noise. I pulled over to the side of the ride and a policeman PROMPTLY pulled up behind me, jumped out of his car and started spraying the mess out of my car with a fire extinguisher! I was like, ????? He said that I had huge flames coming out of my hood! hahaha. Natural blonde here…

— Tie

Charity 1 / Susanne 1

2. Who was your biggest childhood celebrity crush?

Susanne – My first was Luke Skywalker. Not Mark Hamill, mind you. Luke. Maybe it was his swooshy blond hair, I don’t know. I was 6, maybe, and wrote Susie Skywalker on a piece of paper. As I grew older, I transferred my Star Wars-actor-affections to Harrison Ford. I had a poster of him as Indiana Jones on my ceiling.

Charity – That’s great! Those were the days…I was so in love with Atreyu from The Neverending Story. hahaha. He looks like a BABY!!! That is really bonkers. hahaha

— Who was YOUR celeb crush in the 70’s/80’s? (or even 90’s) I will leave this one to a crowd vote!!! Which one were you in love with as a kiddo?

3. What’s your favorite Regency adaptation?

Susanne – I can’t choose between the BBC Colin Firth P&P and the Keira Knightley P&P. They are both utterly enjoyable in their own ways. To be honest, every version of P&P is highly enjoyable because I get to spend time with Darcy and Lizzie. Did you ever watch “Wishbone” in the 90’s, that PBS show? I mean, look at this picture from the episode “Furst Impressions”… Mr. Darcy is a Jack Russel terrier!!! How could you resist him?

Charity – lol! hahahahaha. That is so frightening! SO frightening! Ok, I need to tell you that there is NO WAY I can give you that point if you even compare Keira to Colin Firth. No comparison in the two.

–I get it!

Charity 2 / Susanne 1

4. Which Jane Austen heroine is your favorite?

Susanne – Ack! This is hard! Can it be a tie? Lizzie Bennet, because she’s Lizzie, but Emma makes me laugh because, like me, she thinks she knows what’s what, and half the time she’s wrong. I love how Austen heroines have weaknesses, just like real people, and they grow and learn through their mistakes and problems.

Charity – I agree!!! haha. I love Marianne and Emma. They are so much like me and are seriously the luckiest in their men. Nothing is as dreamy as Colonel Brandon or Mr. Knightley!!!! ❤ ❤

–Tie

Charity 3 / Susanne 2

5. Can you tell me what is in bologna? (Sorry about this frightening pic…I couldn’t help but use it once I saw it…)

Susanne – My guess is “meat” and “parts” of “stuff.”

Charity – hahaha. I can’t even guess…*shudder*

–I will give it to you!

Charity 3 / Susanne 3

6. What’s the best kind of potato chip?

Susanne – Right now I have an affection for Baked Lays. They taste like Pringles. They are so light and crunchy, it’s easy to pretend they aren’t bad for me. Give me a bag and I’m like Cookie Monster. Nom nom nom.

Charity – Girl, I’m right there with ya. Chips are my downfall. I could go my entire life without chocolate, but….a bag of chips? I don’t think I could live without!!!!!! I pretty much love all kinds. Salt and Vinegar & Cool Ranch Doritos are probably my favorite.

–Tie

Charity 4 / Susanne 4

7. How do you strive to bring God the most glory in your life?

Susanne – The short answer is by striving to be obedient, to serve Him, and to acknowledge Him as the source of every grace and blessing in my life. However, I struggle with obedience sometimes. One place I’ve found encouragement and challenge is in the writings of Therese of Lisieux, a 19th C. French Carmelite nun. She died when she was 24, and outside of her nunnery, she was unknown and unimportant–her world was very small. (But now she’s quite famous and Mother Teresa took her name from Therese.) She said something that’s stuck with me: “Miss no single opportunity of making some small sacrifice, here by a smiling look, there by a kindly word; always doing the smallest right and doing it all for love.”

Therese used every single thing in her life to as a vehicle through which to praise God and thank Him. Sweeping. Putting up with an annoying person. Having insomnia. Dying of tuberculosis. It’s challenged me to change my outlook and give Him glory through all things, big or small.

Charity – Love it!! That’s a beautiful truth ❤

–God Wins!

Charity 4 / Susanne 4

8. What’s your biggest fear?

Susanne – Something happening to my kids. That is hands down the thing I struggle with most, when it comes to handing my worries over to God. I surrender them to Him, then I take them back. Sometimes within five seconds.

But I am also afraid of rats. When my husband was in seminary, we discovered we had a rat problem when we woke up one morning to find something had crawled atop our kitchen table and eaten a candy bar, leaving a several-inches-thick swatch of grime and filth so we knew exactly where it came from and where it went. So. Gross. We lived in townhouses, and one of our neighbors woke up with a rat on her bed with her. Ewwwwww!!!! In our current house, a rat got into the attic and chewed through the hot water PVC pipe. Caused water damage and we had to replace part of the ceiling and some kitchen lights. It’s like we attract them–wait, don’t respond to that. Anyway, I am not kindly disposed to rodents.

Charity – ew. That is so awful!

This is my biggest fear:

Dentist Holding Dental Tools

–Tie

Charity 5 / Susanne 5

9. Do you have any super weird habits?

Susanne – Do you count being vigilant in making sure rats can’t get in my house? Because there’s that.

Charity – Hmm. Yes, but I can see your need to do that. I find that I can only eat candy and mints in even amounts. Even chips. Odd.

–Tie

Final:

Charity 6 / Susanne 6

So much fun! Thank you, Susanne!!!!

This sweet lady has offered to giveaway an ebook of Austen in Austen!

This third Austen in Austin novella is based on Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice:

“Urged by her family to marry for the sake of their dwindling finances, Eliza Branch prefers to pay for the remainder of her time at the Austen Academy by writing for the local paper. There’s plenty to write about now that railroad baron William Delacourt has come to Austin. His proposed northbound line may be good for local business, but she’s still stinging from his terrible first impression. If the rumors about William are true, then he deserves to be skewered in print. But when Eliza’s pen gets ahead of her conscience, it’s William who makes everything right—and the reasons behind his sacrifice just might be the story of Eliza’s lifetime.”

No, rats are far worse than the dentist! But I don’t want to get Susie going…so I’ll switch to celebrity crushes.
I had a crush on Kurt Russell (The computer wore tennis shoes, anyone?), so I’m glad he’s still fun and, apparently a good guy. Please don’t enter me in the drawing. I’ve read it and I’ve loved it! ha ha. What a great blog, Charity!

LOVE this post. What a fun blog!
I’ve read it, too, so don’t enter me in the contest. Let’s give someone else a chance to enjoy!
I, too, have an aversion to the dentist. But we’ve forked out I don’t know how much money fixing vehicles that our local ground squirrels have destroyed by chewing through the electrical wires. Rural living is fun, right?

Wow, this was fun! I can’t pick just one celebrity crush, so I made up a Pinterest board and called it “Potential Characters: Male”. It’s great as I can pop up a pic of actors whose characters have made an impact on me and my writing. Okay – and some are just because I like looking at them. Ahem.

Charity – I totally agree about Marianne and Colonel Brandon, which is why I chose S&S for my Austen In Austin novella with Sam Elliott as my inspiration. Oh, that voice gives me shivers.

Anita! Your pinterest board is very inspiring 😉 Alas, childhood celebrity crushes are a funny thing.I also sorta liked Parker Stevenson when he played Frank Hardy on The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew mysteries. Most other girls liked Shaun Cassidy, aka Joe Hardy, aka singer of “Da Do Run Run Run.”